Fenix used his sleeve to dab the sweat from Aura's forehead.
Her cheeks tingled as she looked away from him and whispered,
"You can let me go now."
Fenix frowned, and because he took so long to move or reply, Aura met his gaze.
"... Fine... I'll let you go," he mumbled sadly. Even then, his hands lingered for a second before he finally moved her into the seat beside him. His expression made her heart ache slightly, but they weren't in the right setting for that conversation.
"Who would like to go next?" Pierce asked.
Panther slowly raised her hand.
"Oh, excellent!" Pierce exclaimed.
"I'd like to make a request, could Shade and I do our simulation together? It's obvious you intend for us to pair up in real life, so we might as well show you what we can do as a team," she stated.
Pierce furrowed his brow, then held his chin and thought for a few seconds before saying,
"Yeah, that sounds fine."
Shade smiled and hurried toward the arena, while Panther followed at a much more relaxed pace.
Once they were both in place, Pierce entered a code for their simulation.
"Commencing infiltration mission. Retrieve blueprints from the top floor without getting caught or separated. Now generating First Floor."
The field transformed into the ground floor of an office building. Three receptionists sat at the front desk, and the only path to the elevators and stairs led through the hallway behind them.
They immediately stood behind a pillar, and Panther whispered,
"Can you create a shadow in the hallway for me to move through?"
He nodded and lifted his hand toward the hallway, creating a shadow in the far corner wide enough for her to slip through.
She tiptoed towards the stairwell and gestured him over, but when he didn't move, she reached into a tiny shadow in the doorway to knock over a potted plant in the lobby. The receptionists looked over and muttered,
"What was that?"
At that moment, Shade melted into a shadow and slithered across the floor to Panther's side. As soon as they reunited, they entered the door, and the system announced,
"First floor complete, Nineteen floors remain."
"Perfect," Panther remarked quietly. She then moved closer to Shade and whispered,
"How far away can you create a shadow?"
He thought for a moment, then replied,
"I can create one about one hundred feet away."
She hummed and said,
"Good. Can you cover as much of this area in shadow as possible so we can move up?"
He closed his eyes, and darkness spread out all around them.
Both of them could move quickly in this space, and the system began making rapid declarations:
"Second floor com— Third flo— Fourth—" the numbers rising faster with each second. After only five seconds, the computer announced,
"Now on the twentieth floor. Stage generation commencing."
"That was amazing," Aura mumbled with wide eyes. Fenix still appeared downcast, so she discreetly took hold of his hand.
"There's nothing we can hide from them," Caster noted.
"Yeah, shadows are everywhere; no place is safe. Especially since Shade can make ones in whatever area he needs," Veil commented while leaning forward, with quiet interest.
Panther held up her finger to her lips, signaling Shade to be quiet as she peeked into the hallway. There were a few guards stationed in the hallway, and two heavily armed ones stood at a door at the very end of the corridor.
She quietly closed the door and said,
"I'll create an opening, move as soon as they're distracted."
"I understand," he whispered back. He created a shadow at his feet for her to travel through. A second later, she appeared in one of the empty rooms. Before moving from the doorway, she used her power to reach into the shadow of the camera in the door and rip out the wires from behind it.
Panther then looked around and pushed the long oak desk in the room over to block the entrance. After that was done, she approached the bookshelf and kicked it over. This alerted all the guards. Every guard rushed toward the room Panther occupied. Shade seized the opportunity, melting into a shadow and slipping past them. He emerged beneath the doorway they had been guarding moments earlier.
Not long after that, Panther faded into the shadow cast by the desk. She then reappeared from Shade's shadow. They exchanged knowing glances before Panther deactivated the surveillance system. Shade locked the door, and together they began searching for the blueprints.
It took a few minutes to find the safe hidden on the bookshelf. It was inside a hollowed-out section of books. As soon as she saw it, Panther reached inside and retrieved the documents they had come for.
She beamed and put them into her pocket.
"I'll make another opening. Wait for me in the stairwell."
"Got it," Shade replied.
Panther grabbed a book and reached into his shadow. She then tossed it at one of the guards. He was still trying to break down the first room's door when the book struck his back. He spun around quickly, then shouted,
"Someone is in the hall!"
He pointed in the direction that the book came from, and the others turned their attention that way. It was only for a split second, but that was enough time for Shade to slip past them and emerge in the meet-up spot. Panther shoved the desk in the office with enough force to make a lot of racket.
The security guards panicked and rushed toward the main office, shouting over one another. The desk was against the door. It was made of solid oak, and despite their efforts, they couldn't force it open.
Once the guards were occupied, Panther rejoined Shade, and together they descended through the building the same way they had climbed it.
They stepped into the hallway quietly, and Panther reached through Shade's shadow and shoved one of the receptionist's swivel chairs aside. The woman screamed from shock, and one of her coworkers looked over and said,
"What's wrong, Sarah? Are you okay?"
The others immediately rushed over in concern. Shade used the moment to move unnoticed, while Panther teleported through the shadow of the pillar they had hidden behind earlier.
They then exited the front door together, and the system announced,
"Mission Complete."
They exchanged a high five as the arena cleared.
"You were better than I expected," Panther said. Shade grinned at her with full confidence and replied,
"That wasn't even my best. We should practice, so you can coordinate with me better."
She pouted.
"I think I did just fine," she muttered as they returned to their seats.
Fenix's eyes were locked on the floor, and Aura squeezed his hand to get his attention.
Even then, he didn't react, as though he were lost in thought.
"Now..." Pierce said as he marched over, glancing between Mirror and Cantarella. "Which of you two would like to go next?"
Cantarella scrunched up her face, but Mirror raised her hand and replied,
"I'd like to go, please."
He stepped aside so she could step forward.
Once Mirror reached the center of the arena, the computer announced,
"Objective: keep your ally hidden until you reunite with your teammates."
The surroundings changed into a corporate building and two injured people, one man and one woman, appeared in front of Mirror.
"What happened? How did you get hurt?" Mirror asked.
"We were on our way to reunite with others when we got ambushed," the man explained.
"It was lucky that we managed to get away," the woman added. She then coughed and wobbled a little on her feet. Mirror rushed over and pulled the woman's arm over her shoulder, so she could support her.
She thought hard about what move she should make next and looked out into the stands at Caster who smiled at her and mouthed the words,
"You can do this."
She nodded and looked back to the injured man in front of her.
"C-could you remind me, where are we meeting up with the others?" she asked.
The man let out an exasperated sigh and answered,
"They're waiting for us on the rooftop. How could you forget?"
Mirror dismissed his sassy tone with a laugh.
"Well, we better start moving then. Stay close to me."
She made sure her grip on the woman was secure before opening the door to the hallway. Her male teammate started to say something, but she shushed him and began walking. He followed her reluctantly. The hall was swarming with armed soldiers, some giving off a faint glow, making it clear that they had powers.
Mirror moved steadily toward the elevator, slow enough that the woman could keep pace with her. She said nothing, and when an enemy got close, she merely side stepped away. It was clear that no one could see her.
The audience couldn't find her either. Everyone searched the arena for some sign of her presence but found nothing.... until the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Some of the guards turned toward it in confusion.
"Why is the elevator here if it's empty?" one noted.
"Maybe it's malfunctioning or something. I'll call a repairman to look at it," another responded.
A second after the doors closed the computer voice chimed,
"Floor one complete, now ascending to top floor. Top floor generation commencing."